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The WNBA could triple its media rights fees to $200 million per season. The current package is valued at approximately $60 million and expires next season.

The NBA owns approximately 60 percent of the WNBA and is negotiating that deal alongside its more than $7 billion per season packages with ESPN, NBC and Amazon.

Because the WNBA deal is part of a combined package with the NBA, the league will determine how much the WNBA media rights are worth.

The WNBA players will receive a percentage of their media rights revenue and will see their salaries increase. The WNBA currently has a salary cap of around $1.4 million for each team, which puts the average salary for each player at a little more than $100,000. The WNBA players are expected to opt out of their collective bargaining agreement next year. 

“It’s a huge advantage to us to go to market with the NBA,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The Washington Post. “Especially with streaming services who rely on a 12-month subscription model. If we’re only there for 4½ months … how attractive is that? But we and the NBA are maybe the only sports properties that can give 330 days of live programming — almost the entire year. That’s hugely valuable to a subscription platform.”

The WNBA had total revenue of between $180 million and $200 million last season. Despite the recent growth of the WNBA, the league and its teams are expected to lose around $50 million this season.

“The truth is, this league would be hard-pressed to exist without the NBA,” said one WNBA team executive.

Via Ben Strauss/Washington Post

WNBA's Next Media Rights Deal Could More Than Triple To $200M Per Season, and you put up a photo with this girl 99% of the population has no idea who she is, instead of Caitlin Clark?

hyberx wrote:WNBA's Next Media Rights Deal Could More Than Triple To $200M Per Season, and you put up a photo with this girl 99% of the population has no idea who she is, instead of Caitlin Clark?

Aja Wilson is a back to back champion. Also won a championship with South Carolina. If she keeps up her great play she will go down at the greatest women’s basketball player. As noteworthy as Clark is right now Aja Wilson is the actual superstar in the league. Clark is not there yet

The "WNBA's Next Media Rights Deal" is worth precisely nothing. Certain media outlets like ESPN will simply accept it because it's rolled together with the NBA deal. If they tried to sell it separately as its own package, it would lose money (just like the WNBA itself loses money), because no one would offer anything for it... at least, not more than it costs to actually play the game, because those networks could find other lower cost programming to air in that timeslot which would get the same or better ratings. You know, things like an old Billy Mays infomercial... or a test pattern!

Cyclonus12 wrote:The "WNBA's Next Media Rights Deal" is worth precisely nothing. Certain media outlets like ESPN will simply accept it because it's rolled together with the NBA deal. If they tried to sell it separately as its own package, it would lose money (just like the WNBA itself loses money), because no one would offer anything for it... at least, not more than it costs to actually play the game, because those networks could find other lower cost programming to air in that timeslot which would get the same or better ratings. You know, things like an old Billy Mays infomercial... or a test pattern!

Wbd should buy it outright to fill time slots..

I cannot.